If Dr. Bronner Had a Kool-Aid, I'd Drink It

Dr. Bronner was a psychotic, lunatic, genius. He literally escaped a mental institution, and his theories on religion (The Moral ABCs) are sometimes crazy ("Eternal Father, Eternal One! Exceptions eternally? Absolute none!"). But his soap? Genius. Pure castile. Pure genius. 


As I've been moving my zero-waste focus onto other parts of my life (namely: the bathroom), I started to get a bit discouraged. A quick inventory of my shower, for example, brings up 4-5 plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash and shaving cream. Then in the cabinets, there's makeup bottles, deodorant, toothpaste, mouthwash, nail polish, nail polish remover, face masks, et cetera. And then there's the shower scrub spray cleaning stuff and the tile spray cleaning stuff and the other spray cleaning stuff. There's a lot of stuff. 


While Dr. Bronner hasn't solved all my toiletry needs, he's certainly condensed them with his 18 in 1 pure Castile soap. I had used my roommate's Dr. Bronner's soaps in the past, and Aaron and I even watched the psycho documentary Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox. Dude was weird, no doubt about it. But the documentary highlighted all the uses for the soap. It seriously cleans everything:

• body wash
• laundry detergent
• dishes
• pet shampoo
• human shampoo
• floor cleaner
• tub cleaner
• face wash
• toothpaste

The soap itself is pure Castile soap, which means it's totally plant (not animal fat) based. Its ingredients are coconut, jojoba, olive and hemp oils. It's also certified free trade and 100% biodegradable. AND the bottles are made from 100% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Cylinder Bottles.

Of course I had to buy some. And lucky for me, Rainbow Grocery even sells it in bulk! I purchased a lovely dark amber glass bottle for $1.50 and filled it up with Dr. Bronner's Peppermint 18 in 1 Magic Soap. Eager to try it, I rushed home to take a shower. 


As it turns out, glass may not be the best choice for the shower. Gets a bit slippery and takes some extra care, although I haven't dropped it yet! But the soap was great: tingly and rinses clean with no residue. So, awesome as body wash. 


Next up, Dr. Bronner's as a kitchen cleaner. Ok, I admit, I didn't do this experiment, it was all Aaron. He scrubbed the kitchen counters and floors with the soap. But I can attest to the sparkly clean kitchen with a light hint of peppermint! 


I also ran out of face wash and instead of running out to by a new bottle, I gave Dr. Bronner's a try. It was amazing! Got all my makeup off and left my pores feeling tight, but didn't dry out my skin. A week later and my face still feels wonderful using the soap as face wash. 


Lastly, our pup Prudence got a Dr. Bronner's bath. She can have really dry, flaky skin, but I haven't caught her scratching once since the bath. I was hoping the peppermint flavor would outweigh wet dog smell, and it definitely helped, but let's face it, wet dog is wet dog.


For the sake of this blog, I just brushed my teeth with the soap. Not bad, actually. A little soapy aftertaste, but my teeth feel clean and my breath is pretty minty. I think I'd add in a little baking soda to get a good scrub. Is it a permanent solution for toothpaste? Hmm. We'll see how committed I get.


Next up... Dr. Bronner's as laundry detergent!